


Set destination to...

by onetiredboy



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: SPOILERS FOR THE S3 FINALE Y'ALL, Spoilers, thinking about season 4...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 05:15:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30134541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onetiredboy/pseuds/onetiredboy
Summary: SEASON 3 FINALE SPOILERSA distant peal of thunder rumbles over the town square. A moment later, dark grey snow begins drift down from the sky. It settles gently on jackets, scarves, curls of hair of passers-by. On the long white coat of a tall, slender man as he picks his way unremarkably through the stream of pedestrians.
Comments: 11
Kudos: 55





	Set destination to...

It’s a cold day on a dusty, down-trodden asteroid in the Outer Rim. People in the streets glance nervously up at the rolling clouds overhead, memories of snowstorms – each more severe than the last – still fresh in their minds.

It’s a quiet place. Nothing exciting has happened on Orpheus since the last presidential election, and that was seven years ago. Living conditions aren’t any worse than any other location on the Outer Rim – meaning there are people huddled up in doorways, sure, but most people get by.

A distant peal of thunder rumbles over the town square. A moment later, dark grey snow begins drift down from the sky. It settles gently on jackets, scarves, curls of hair of passers-by. On the long white coat of a tall, slender man as he picks his way unremarkably through the stream of pedestrians.

The commspiece in Juno’s ear basically vibrates out of his head with a series of frantic beeps and whistles.

“Yeah,” he grumbles under his breath, “I see him.”

Peter Nureyev stalks down the pavement with his hands deep in his coat pockets. His shoulders are back. His hair is longer, but it still carries the shape of his last haircut. The haircut Juno gave him in the Carte Blanche bathroom weeks ago as part of their preparation for the wedding.

He’s wearing heels. In a goddamn snowstorm, he’s wearing heels. And at the same time as Juno feels hot anger boil in his stomach and tears build behind his eyes, he can’t help but grit out a bitter laugh.

Juno’s too angry to feel sad and too goddamn relieved to see him safe to feel angry. It all rolls together in his mind until it becomes too big to comprehend and suddenly, he feels… nothing. An unsettling nothing, a tense nothing, like he’s been sequestered away from his own thoughts.

He tails Nureyev through the streets.

He takes his time, loitering at stalls and stopping to stare at reflections in shop windows. It doesn’t faze Juno: he knew Nureyev would know he’s being tailed. He keeps far enough back, with his scarf over his nose and his hat pulled down, that Nureyev won’t be able to know much more than that he’s being followed.

It’s easier like this. There’s no way in hell Juno would have the guts to march right up to him directly. This way he has the time to build up to the inevitable moment when Nureyev ducks around a corner and Juno knows he’s waiting with a knife drawn.

Juno stops just before the corner Nureyev disappears around and breathes for a moment. He’s not sure what he’s going to say, if he’ll even have time to say anything before Nureyev lunges, but he figures there’s no point in trying to prepare. Juno pulls his scarf down and takes off his hat.

He turns around the corner.

Hands get fisted into Juno’s coat for half a second before they jolt away. Peter Nureyev stands stock-still in the alley way. An emotion like physical pain flitters over his face – then confusion, and anger, and sadness, and… fear.

“Hey,” Juno says. “It’s been a while.”

* * *

Nureyev runs.

Juno should’ve seen it coming, but there’s nothing he could’ve done to stop him. Turns out that’s alright, though, because his newfound companion has ‘intergalactic tracker dog’ listed right up next to shapeshifting in ‘things that shouldn’t be fucking possible that are somehow’.

The next time they see each other, it’s on another asteroid in another corner of the Outer Rim. When Nureyev glances over and sees him, that same sequence of emotions flicks across his face.

“You can run again,” Juno butts in before Nureyev can do exactly that, “But I’ll keep finding you, you know.”

Nureyev stares at Juno for a long moment. His throat moves as he swallows, and then he speaks, for the first time since they separated. “Why?”

Juno sets his jaw, “Cause I’m not giving up until we _talk_.”

Nureyev begins to walk. Juno follows alongside him. They wander through the streets together, like two old friends who each have a favour to ask of the other they know the other won’t want to hear about.

“I don’t know what it is we have to say to each other,” Nureyev says at last.

“Oh, I got a few things I’ve been wanting to say to you,” Juno replies. After a beat of silence, he continues. “But… really? Nothing you want to say to me. Nothing at all?”

When Nureyev breathes again, his shoulders shake. He stays silent.

“Here, I’ll say my bit first and we’ll do it in reverse,” Juno puts his hands in his pockets. “I forgive you.”

Nureyev lets out a sharp, disbelieving laugh.

“I do,” Juno says more forcefully. “I’m angry at you. Don’t get me wrong, I’m _angry_. And we are going to have a _long_ talk. But I forgive you.”

“You don’t,” Nureyev corrects.

“Don’t think that’s up to you to decide.”

“You don’t forgive me, Juno,” Nureyev sounds angrier, now. “You don’t even know what I’ve done.”

“Maybe not,” Juno concedes. Then he steps forward and rounds on Nureyev, forcing him to stop still while Juno talks, “But I _trust_ you. I trust you because I spent the last goddamn year with you and I know you wouldn’t hurt our family—hurt _me—_ this badly without a damn good reason. And I’m here because I want you to know I _want_ to listen to what you have to say.”

Nureyev stares down at Juno. His shoulders are shaking again. “And what does the rest of the Aurinko crime family think about that?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Juno says, “I’m the only one who made it out.”

And maybe it’s bad, but he gets a little moment of sick satisfaction out of watching the blood drain from Nureyev’s face.

“Alright,” he says. “Let’s talk.”


End file.
